AES E-Library

AES E-Library

In multichannel reproduction, listening at off-center positions involves differences in the arrival times of the signals from different loudspeakers, which influences localization. The difference between transient or nontransient signals was found to have an influence on the localization of an auditory source image with third-order Ambisonics when the listener is located off-center. The transients were found to have larger errors on the placement of the Ambisonic pointer because of stronger localization dominance of the earlier arriving loudspeakers. Subjects performed consistently over a number of repetitions, but there was a larger difference among different subjects. Results were compared to those obtained with several prediction models, including an extended version of the energy vector model that incorporates the precedence effect. Compared to two binaural models, the extended vector model is shown to provide the best predictions over all conditions. The results confirm that the type of signal must be taken into account in predictive modeling. Furthermore, the extended energy vector exhibits about 50% less error than the standard energy vector.